If you are a regular reader here you would have come across one of the many articles on Global Warming that we have blogged about. But as change and understanding is never constant with us, we are going to close down this section that we started off in mid 2006.

It could be considered as a hilarious thing to do when Global Warming is supposedly at its peak. But as strange as it may seem, we are now inclined to believe that the whole Global Warming entourage was a well thought and executed business plan.

A few months ago a friend of mine asked me if I had watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and went on about the awesomeness of it. It is perhaps the bible of an eco-friendly geek, is what I assume without watching it as yet.

Mr Al Gore has got his facts and data skewed, and even worse its done intentionally. Take a look at this article on how the data has been falsified (do read the comments as well), stating various credible sources like the Telegraph etc. on how the data is just put there to scare the masses and introduce new taxes.

Himalayan Glacier Size Increasing

We all know how important the Himalayas are, considering that they house the most Glaciers in the world it would be important to see how these Glaciers are fairing with the whole earth heating up.

According to the Times of India article, "Himalayan glaciers here to stay"

The conclusion was drawn by glaciologists after studying the behaviour of 35 Himalayan glaciers. The Mentossa glacier in Miyar valley of Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh has, in fact, expanded in the last few years while there is no change in the Kangriz glacier in Zanskar valley of J&K since 1913.

Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that produces global warming reports, are under scrutiny for giving an exaggerated prediction about the Himalayan glacier meltdown.

Its funny that if the glaciers are melting at a normal rate, what does Mr Al Gore have to gain with his prophecy on Global Warming? While he has gone and got half the world scared, Gore has invested in business that will benefit from the entire green revolution he desires.

Gore will be the first carbon billionaire! Hope this justifies the reasons why we shall no longer support the global warming bandwagon and embrace climate change with open arms. The truth is we all need to reconnect with nature and play a role in saving the climate. Read the complete post...

I saw it rising on the horizon, draped in white, shining in its full glory, wide and bright.

The full moon night is here, and this time its the biggest and brightest of 2010, because its closer to earth than usual. What a spectacle it is, with the reddish object, Mars just to the left of the full moon. The moon has been rising early lately before the sun sets, but today it rose late, around 7ish covered among the clouds, before it illuminates the winter sky.

We took few shots of the first new moon of 2010, appearing 30% brighter and 14% wider. The features of the moon appear so clearly:) Tonight's full moon is also known as 'the wolf moon', a name given by the Native Americans, who believed that packs of hungry wolves howled at the full moon on cold nights; besides they had a different full moon name for each month. The night sky has been quite a visual treat this month. On January 1st, we saw the colorful side of the moon.
There were two faint coloured rings around the moon as thin clouds passed by, on googling I found out that these are called 'lunar coronas' caused by the diffraction of moon light by the clouds.


It had several colours and lasted for just few minutes, but it had an incredible depth and it was emitting energy that can absorb your mind, an uplifting experience indeed! So spare few minutes to observe the night sky, the celestial bodies can take you high! Read the complete post...

Traveling around the country in vans, living in open fields, following an age-old tradition of selling Ayurvedic jadibuti (medicinal and aromatic plants)), is the lifestyle of a nomadic tribe from Satna district in Madhya Pradesh.

We came across group of families settled on a barren land with tents pitched adjacent to each other and vans parked behind them. As curiosity built up we found out more about these nomads, who are leading a challenging life.

"We collect jadibuti (plants) growing in the wild from all over the country (from Haridwar to Mumbadevi in Mumbai) or purchase them sometimes and develop different kinds of medicines meant for several diseases. This practice has been passed on from seven generations, just the way you study in school we study this from childhood," explained Rajiv Singh, a serious-looking fellow from the tribe. Initially he was a bit hesitant to speak, thinking we would highlight or write negative things about them. But after convincing that we were genuinely keen on knowing about their nomadic way of living, he spoke quite freely. There were around 25-30 of them who got together in this remote village on the outskirts of Mumbai. Each family sets up their shop in the market, selling medicines priced between Rs 50 to Rs 500. "The cost of the medicines is quite cheap and we guarantee the customer about his/her recovery. After which many of them give us rewards, which is much more than the actual cost of the medication," said Rajiv.

We walked around the place taking pictures, which generated some interest among the tribe, especially this man, Vikram Singh, who happily posed with his kids. His wife was kind enough to offer us a glass of water and told us to come back again in five days when they all adorn nice outfits and perform Durga puja. They also cook up a meal of Puris where they immerse their own hands in the hot ghee to remove the puri when its cooked.
This woman dressed in traditional Ghagra Choli plucking out spinach leaves to cook for her family. While the kids were more than happy to strike a pose. The nomadic tribe travels to all parts of India with their wives and kids for eight months and the remaining four months are spent in their hometown village in Satana. "We all have concrete houses in our village, and we return home during monsoons," said another middle-aged man who had traveled from Mumbai. The duration of their stay at a place completely depends on the amount of earnings and demand for Ayurvedic medicines. It can range from 10 days to two months. We asked some of them where they were heading, the response was quite simple, "We don't know, we haven't decided yet."

Each family heads to a different part of the country and they set up their shops, they then coordinate as to where they will meet on occasions or for business discussions and come together again. Wandering through unknown pastures to keep alive an ancient practice, the nomads sure lead an adventurous life! Read the complete post...

We are settling into our new home and discovering the wonders of living close to nature. Something which would be lacking in a city, where urban dwellers aiming to lead a greener lifestyle end up paying much more for a product and are often left with quality thats not up to the mark.

Maybe there is a chance to escape part of this system with the help of the divine cactus, Aloe Vera. You would have heard of Aloe Vera, often used in shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers, medicines, toothpaste and much more.

Recently we tried using the juice of the plant to apply on the skin as a moisturizer. Bhavika being a little skeptical wanted to do a little research before using it, thanks to her we stumbled upon the umpteen reasons to use this divine cactus.
The juice acts like a natural moisturizer on the body, when applied on the hair it stops irritation of the scalp, reduces hair fall, and makes the hair soft and shiny. It also has a cooling effect on the body, this were few benefits we discovered after using Aloe Vera.

We now plan on testing if Aloe works as a sun screen as well, Bhavika has really sensitive skin so she is the guinea pig for now. :)

You can get a good quantity of Aloe juice from a big fat leaf, we took a couple of pictures of the steps involved in extracting Aloe juice.
Firstly you need to get an Aloe plant, and yes they can grow in pots as well so its easy to have one anywhere. When you cut out a leaf, you notice a yellow latex or sap oozing out of it, this is not suppose to be used as its an irritant.

So you basically hang the leaf or keep it in a tilted position until the oozing stops. Once thats done you can slice off the thorny sides of the leaves.
Then slice off the flat side of the leaf with a knife, you will see good amount of juice beginning to drip out when you do that. You can then scoop out the inside gel with either a spoon or slice out as much as you can with a knife.

The first time we extracted aloe juice we directly put the gel in a muslin cloth and squeezed it, we collected a good amount of gel and juice. By blending the gel and then using a muslin cloth you get a lot more juice with very little gel remaining.
We managed to get a little more than 400 ml of the divine cactus juice from 5 medium sized aloe leaves. If you don't want to extract you can simply cut off a leaf, drain out the yellow sap and apply it directly on your skin.
Aloe has been used for over 500 years

Aloe Vera is known as Ghrit Kumari in Sanskrit and has been used in Ancient Indian Ayurveda. Its use as a healing agent goes back thousands of years, for the Egyptians its the 'plant of immortality' and supposedly placed as a burial gift in tombs of the pharaohs. Strange that a plant with so many qualities has not made its way into all our homes a long time ago.
According to Ayurvedic medicine, Aloe Vera has,

Antibiotic Properties that can be used to treat various skin ailments, sun burns, healing of cuts, wounds and scratches. Aloe gel has many therapeutic healing properties.

Analgesic Properties that inhibit pain, thus Aloe Vera gel is used in dental treatments and the treatment of mouth ulcers, sores, blisters etc. Its also used to treat piles, hemorrhoids, indigestion, constipation

Growth Stimulating Properties that stimulate the growth and formation of new cells. So it helps in curing burns as aloe penetrates the skin and removes the dead cells caused by infection, and forms new cells.

You can read more about the benefits of Aloe Vera and its uses in Ayurveda here and here.

The Aloe juice can also be consumed, but we are yet to try that out. Read the complete post...

As the day approached closer the excitement was building mixed with shades of anxiety, of course in a good way. We did tie the knot in church but the Jain wedding was going to be a slightly bigger affair.

Traditionally Gujaratis have the Mehendi ceremony, two days prior to the wedding, where a henna designer or some relative applies mehendi to the bride's hands and feet. Its intricately designed with a bridal theme consisting of dhol, shehnai, flowers, groom's initials, peacock, and many more artistic connotations of a marriage, and the bride's family and friends celebrate the occasion by singing songs and applying mehendi as well.

Bhavika's mehendi ceremony was minus all the hype and just a homely affair.
She was happy that it turned out to be beautiful, of course its a momentous occasion for the bride. Its a belief that darker the colour of the mehendi, the more bride is loved by her husband and in-laws. This sweet ritual of mehendi signifies the strength and power of love in a marriage.

There are innumerable things to be sorted and organised as you come closer to the day. The big day arrived and there was a short ritual in the morning at Bhavika's place before the elaborate rituals of the Gujarati wedding started. There were few butterflies in the stomach, which I guess is a normal feeling. Coming to the clothes, the bride has to wear the traditional Panetar saree, which is a combination of white and red with bandhani design imprinted on them.

It took Bhavika under 2 hours to get ready and that was followed by a short photo session with the usual bridal poses. Another pose holding a coconut, that features in many customs and is considered to be a sign of good luck. The bride's uncle (mother's brother) presents the bride Chudi Kakan, chudi are red bangles while kakan are made of glass with uneven surface that means life is full of highs and lows. In the picture below uncle's wife is putting on the Chudi for Bhavika. While that is being done, Clyde, the bridegroom, arrived at the venue with his family. He is not suppose to look at the bride yet, but we both were looking out for each other. The groom usually wears Chudidar or Sherwani with a turban (known as Saafa in Gujarati).

The arrival of the groom and his family is called Ponkvu, which marks the official beginning of the Gujarati wedding. The groom is asked to step onto a bajat (low wooden stool) where Bhavika's Kaki (father's brother's wife) applied the traditional red tikka on Clyde's forehead and handed him a Shrifal (coconut) as a symbol of good luck. The Maharaj (person conducting the ceremony) chants mantras as the groom is given the ceremonial welcome. At the end the groom has to break a clay pot filled with rice before seeing the bride. Once that is done, Bhavika's maternal uncle led her to the groom, then she walked around Clyde few times before exchanging garlands. During this entire ritual the groom has to remove his shoes, and that's when Bhavika's sister and cousins hide his shoes and later on ask for money in exchange of his shoes. Clyde gave up too soon and had to shell out Rs 1000 to get his shoes back. Now that was fun, as the groom tries to move away couple of times making it difficult for the bride to put the garland around him. Bhavika had to try at least 5 times before succeeding to put the garland.:) Everybody had a good laugh. The ceremony now begins on a serious note. After the welcoming of the groom and the short rendezvous between the bride and the groom for the first time during the wedding, we both proceeded to the stage or mandap, where we again exchanged beautiful garlands. Then the Maharaj asked us to sit in front of each other as he tied a thread around us, binding us together with holy mantras. Bhavika's two sisters, real and one cousin sister, were called to the mandap to hold an antarpaat or curtain which separates the bride from her groom. This is also called Kanya Agamana, and as the Maharaj begins chanting the mantras, the antarpaat is lowered. At the same time the Maharaj ties a cotton cloth around the groom to the sari of the bride, this is known as Hasta Milap, an important ritual in a marriage. The tying of the knot and the joined hands of the bride and groom has a deeper meaning since it symbolises the union of the two hearts and souls. Luckily all the rituals didn't go on for long, and we were kind of enjoying it. After Hasta Milap, we had to perform Mangal Pheras, which means taking rounds besides a diya or lamp stuck in kneaded flour. There is a difference in customs, as in Jain marriage there are only four pheras, compared to seven in Hindu weddings and instead of the sacred fire there is only a diya or a lamp. Part of this ceremony were Bhavika's cousin brother and Kaki. At the start of every phera or round Bhavika's Kaki put water in her hand with a the betel leaf and then her cousin would put the leaf with the betel nut on it. The Maharaj explained the significance of each phera to us before bowing in front of the Diya. Since the mandap was a bit narrow, we had to take small steps and Clyde often stepped on my sari. We don't exactly remember what the four Jain pheras represent, but this is what we managed to grasp, one phera symbolized respecting each ones religions and beliefs, one phera was for laxmi, thats for wealth, the third was for shakti or strength and the fourth was for moksha or enlightenment. We weren't officially married until the Mangal Sutra, symbol of marriage in India, is attached around the bride's neck. For those who don't know about Mangal Sutra, it is a gold ornament strung from a yellow thread, a string of black beads or a gold chain. Just like how a wedding ring is exchanged in a church wedding. We were officially married for the second time, earlier being the church wedding, after an hour and fifteen minutes long ritual. :) So to end the ceremony on a lighter note, Maharaj included a fun-filled game of Aeki Beki, which is generally played at the groom's house, but we had it during the wedding itself. We were given a thali filled with betel nuts and each one had to take a fistful of nuts and the other person had to guess whether it was odd or even. We had 3 rounds each and they say that the winner dominates the marriage. So who was the winner of this odd and even game, haha, it upto you to guess! There is an ancient practice in India of bowing in front of elders to seek their blessings on momentous occasions. So there we were, taking blessings from all our elders, relatives etc. Each person gives a small token in the form of money.

Once this was done, we went to the room where the Maharaj conducted the last ritual of the wedding, as we celebrated with some sweet. Then it was time to rejoice with family and friends and some good food!
This was a short journey into a new chapter in our lives, we seek your kind words and best wishes! Read the complete post...